Leveling beam for horizontal chamber by-product coke ovens



Sept. 21, 1965 LEVELING BEAM FOR HORIZONTAL CHAMBER BY-PRODUCT COKE OVENS Fig. I

J. BECKER Filed May 10, 1962 Fig. 2

"3 k as INVENTOR. JOSEPH BECKER of J. mxm his A T TOENE Y United States Patent 3,207,334 LEVELING BEAM FOR HORIZONTAL CHAMBER BY-PRODUCT COKE OVENS Joseph Becker, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Koppers Company, Inc., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 10, 1962, Ser. No. 193,757 1 Claim. (Cl. 21423) This invention relates to means for leveling the coal freshly charged into horizontal chamber by-product coke ovens and more particularly to a leveling bar of novel construction.

In horizontal chamber byproduct coke ovens when the coking chambers are charged with finely divided coal to be converted to coke, this coal is deposited through charging holes leading into the coking chambers from the oven roof at spaced locations along the length of the coking chamber. The freshly charged coal is uniformly deposited in the coking chamber for the most part except at the very top where the coal heaps in a series of pinnacles one under each charging hole. These pinnacles reach up into top of the chamber and even up into the charging holes through the oven roof.

The upper part of the oven chamber must, however, be free of obstructions in order to permit communication over the top of the coal throughout the whole length of the chamber during the carbonization process to permit the distillation gases generated in all portions of the coking chamber to pass freely therealong for removal through an outlet or outlets from the coking chamber for further treatment.

In order to insure this free communication in the upper part of the oven chamber providing what is termed the horizontal gas collecting space, a device known as a leveling beam or leveling bar is introduced into the upper portion of the coking chamber through an access door provided especially for this purpose. By moving this leveling bar horizontally with a reciprocating action the coal heaps blocking the gas collecting space are spread out into the valleys to either side of the heaps or pinnacles producing a substantially horizontal surface for the coal charge.

The leveling bar must be at least as long as the coking chamber, which is usually about 40 feet in length, and, since this long bar must be supported at one end thereof outside the coke oven, the leveling bar is in elfect a cantilever beam about 40 feet long. It may be readily seen that in view of the manner of support and the considerable length involved there is a natural tendency for the bar to bend along its length not only from the weight of the beam itself but also because of the influence upon the bar of the heat within the coking chamber. Such bending of the horizontal leveling bar is very objectionable because the depressed end of the leveler bar presses down upon the coal charge and increases the bulk density of the coal at the surface of the charge. In the ideal design the leveling bar would move through the heaps of coal in a truly horizontal plane and would impose no vertical load whatsoever on the coal charge. Although this ideal condition has yet to be attained present efforts are directed toward approaching as closely as possible toward this ideal, since it is believed by many of those skilled in the art that vertical loads imposed on the top of the coal charge increasing its bulk density are largely responsible for the occurrence of spots of green coke along the top of the charge, the production of coke of non-uniform quality and even the possibility of damage to the refractories forming the oven walls due to excessive expansion of localized portions of the coal charge.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to produce a leveling bar of greatly reluced weight.

Another object of the present invention is the produc- "ice tion of a leveling bar of novel design productive of greatly reduced deflection at the end thereof during the leveling operation.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a leveling bar advantageously designed to provide leveling action over a greater width of the leveling bar.

Still a further object of the present invention is the production of a design for a leveling bar so reduced in weight as to greatly reduce the stresses imposed on the supporting and reciprocating mechanism for driving the leveling bar during the leveling operation.

These and other objects are secured with the present in- Vention wherein the side walls of the leveling bar are constructed of lighter weight sections with openings of substantial area cut therethrough without appreciable loss in moment of inertia and permitting the passage of coal therethrough during reciprocation of the-bar.

The exact nature of this invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will be readily apparent from consideration of the following specification relating to the annexed drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 shows in plan view a preferred embodiment of the invention,

FIGURE 2 illustrates a side elevation of the leveling bar shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of FIG- URE 2 and FIGURE 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of FIG- URE 2.

Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout several views, there is shown in the drawing a leveling bar 11 the side walls 12, 13 of which are of composite construction for which standard structural shapes are employed. In the design disclosed bulb angles are employed to form sides 12, 13 the angles being joined to each other as by welding at the far ends of their webs as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4.

Holes 14 are cut through side walls 12 and 13 to provide the necessary weight reduction and stiffener plates 16 are employed where required. Further reduction in the weight of side wall-s 12, 13 is secured at intervals along the length of the leveling bar by employing bulb angles of progressively smaller weight proceeding toward the free end of the leveling bar 11. One such reduction in weight of the bulb angle is employed in the embodiment shown.

At intervals along the length of leveling bar 11 solid cross plates 17 called hoe plates are employed extending from wall to wall. These hoe plates 17 as well as side walls 12 and 13 are manufactured out of an elastic material having a high modulus of elasticity such as steel. In order to provide maximum stiffness hoe plates 17 are welded to side Walls 12 and 13 at positions where the full depth of side walls 12 and 13 is solid plate as shown.

As leveling bar 11 is pushed into the coke oven through the chuck door by the driving mechanism (not shown) hoe plates 17 move the humps of coal over into adjacent valleys. During the reciprocal motion of leveling bar 11 additional coal enters between walls 12, 13 of the leveler bar and distribution of the coal is continued in this manner until the valleys and humps are brought to a common level. It is particularly important to note that during reciprocation of leveling bar 11 holes 14 enable coal to pass freely either outward or inward through walls 12, 13 as the humps of coal are redistributed. In this manner, packing of the coal within the confines of the leveling bar is minimized and subjection of greater volumes of the coal to be distributed to the scraping action of hoe plates 17 is more quickly accomplished. Stififener plates 16 serve the additional function of hastening the redistribution of the coal moving either out of or into the confines of leveling bar 11 through holes 14 thereby increasing the effective width of leveling bar 11.

The following table provides a comparison between a leveler bar constructed according to FIGURES 1 through 4 and a leveling bar of standard construction:

*No support from coal.

It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing disclosure relates to only a preferred embodiment of the invention and that numerous modifications or alterations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claim.

What is claimed:

a A bar for leveling the charge of coal in a coke oven comprising:

(a) a pair of horizontally spaced apart longitudinal substantially vertical side plates;

(b) a plurality of longitudinal spaced transverse hoe plates fixed to and extending substantially vertically, entirely between and perpendicular to said side plates; and

(c) said side plate having a plurality of longitudinally spaced relatively large openings extending therethrough with at least one said opening in each of the areas between adjacent hoe plates, each said area of one side plate having the same number of openings as its corresponding area in the other side plate with each of the openings of one side plate being horizontally aligned with its corresponding opening in the other side plate for permitting substantially free passage of particulate coal through said side plates.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,105,522 7/14 Koppers 202262 1,591,672 7/ 26 Folsom et al. 202262 X 1,937,734 12/33 Underwood 214-23 1,979,507 11/34 Underwood 202262 2,239,412 4/41 Curran 202262 X FOREIGN PATENTS 925,710 3/55 Germany.

93 7,043 12/ 5 5 Germany. 1,056,586 5/59 Germany.

MORRIS O. WOLK, Primary Examiner. 

